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A History of Private Life #5
Riddles of Identity in Modern Times
This is the final volume of an already standard work on private life in Western civilization from Greco-Roman times to the present. The entire work was planned by Phillipe Ariès and Georges Duby in the tradition of the Annales group; this volume was first published in France as Histoire de la vie privee: de la Première Guerre mondiale à nos jours (1987). Editors Prost and Vincent have added sections on Italian, German, and American families to this English edition, thereby making it more comprehensive. Like the previous four volumes (v.l: CH, Jun'87; v.3: CH, Oct'89), this one has a theme--personal identity. The editors and authors pursue this theme in the same contexts used in the earlier volumes: in the workplace and the city, where private property and private activities have been subjects of controversy and objects of state control; in the home and family, where, increasingly, even sexual matters are not private; and in middle groups between state and individual--such as church. or mosque, or party--where more and more personal dramas are acted out in a world of cultural diversity. As Duby's foreword in the first volume indicated, A History of Private Life aims at an in-depth analysis of the evolution of personality as concept and reality in the Western world. Now complete in French and in English translation, the work is a tribute to the Annales approach of studying structural changes over long periods and to the late great historian Ariès, on whose schema Duby and the other editors drew.
--Reviewed by T. J. Knight in Choice, 29 (April 1992), p. 1282.
--Reviewed by T. J. Knight in Choice, 29 (April 1992), p. 1282.
640 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
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About the author
Philippe Ariès
79 books111 followersPhilippe Ariès (21 July 1914 – 8 February 1984) was a French medievalist and historian of the family and childhood, in the style of Georges Duby. He wrote many books on the common daily life. His most prominent works regarded the change in the western attitudes towards death.
Ariès regarded himself as an "anarchist of the right". He was initially close to the Action française but later distanced himself from it, as he viewed it as too authoritarian, hence his self-description as an "anarchist". Ariès also contributed to La Nation française, a royalist review. However, he also co-operated with many left-wing French historians, especially with Michel Foucault, who wrote his obituary.
During his life, his work was often better known in the English-speaking world than it was in France itself. He is known above all for his book L’Enfant et la Vie Familiale sous l’Ancien Régime (1960), which was translated into English as Centuries of Childhood (1962). This book is pre-eminent in the history of childhood, as it was essentially the first book on the subject (although some antiquarian texts were earlier). Even today, Ariès remains the standard reference to the topic. Ariès is most famous for his statement that "in medieval society, the idea of childhood did not exist". Its central thesis is that attitudes towards children were progressive and evolved over time with economic change and social advancement, until childhood, as a concept and an accepted part of family life, from the 17th century. It was thought that children were too weak to be counted and that they could disappear at any time. However, children were considered as adults as soon as they could live alone.
The book has had mixed fortunes. His contribution was profoundly significant both in that it recognised childhood as a social construction rather than as a biological given and in that it founded the history of childhood as a serious field of study. At the same time, his account of childhood has by now been widely criticised.
Ariès is likewise remembered for his invention of another field of study: the history of attitudes to death and dying. Ariès saw death, like childhood, as a social construction. His seminal work in this ambit is L'Homme devant la mort (1977), his last major book, published in the same year when his status as a historian was finally recognised by his induction into the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), as a directeur d'études.
Ariès regarded himself as an "anarchist of the right". He was initially close to the Action française but later distanced himself from it, as he viewed it as too authoritarian, hence his self-description as an "anarchist". Ariès also contributed to La Nation française, a royalist review. However, he also co-operated with many left-wing French historians, especially with Michel Foucault, who wrote his obituary.
During his life, his work was often better known in the English-speaking world than it was in France itself. He is known above all for his book L’Enfant et la Vie Familiale sous l’Ancien Régime (1960), which was translated into English as Centuries of Childhood (1962). This book is pre-eminent in the history of childhood, as it was essentially the first book on the subject (although some antiquarian texts were earlier). Even today, Ariès remains the standard reference to the topic. Ariès is most famous for his statement that "in medieval society, the idea of childhood did not exist". Its central thesis is that attitudes towards children were progressive and evolved over time with economic change and social advancement, until childhood, as a concept and an accepted part of family life, from the 17th century. It was thought that children were too weak to be counted and that they could disappear at any time. However, children were considered as adults as soon as they could live alone.
The book has had mixed fortunes. His contribution was profoundly significant both in that it recognised childhood as a social construction rather than as a biological given and in that it founded the history of childhood as a serious field of study. At the same time, his account of childhood has by now been widely criticised.
Ariès is likewise remembered for his invention of another field of study: the history of attitudes to death and dying. Ariès saw death, like childhood, as a social construction. His seminal work in this ambit is L'Homme devant la mort (1977), his last major book, published in the same year when his status as a historian was finally recognised by his induction into the École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS), as a directeur d'études.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 3, 2014
The sections on American private life are redundant and predictable-but the rest of the book is fascinating. This must just be because I know the rather stitled history of the country in which I reside, but I was hoping to glean something new.
Oh well.
Oh well.
February 18, 2015
Not as good as the previous 4 volumes of this series, but still pretty interesting.
September 9, 2017
Excelente review of modern family and it changes along the XX century.
October 9, 2023
Why is this 32 year old book prescient? Education, marriage, abortion, role of religion.... All of these topics are still painfully and violently relevant. I don't think its possible to really understand the modern positions on these things without reading the history of these issues over the last 150 years. It's also wonderful to read (with data) "this is how things actually were" vs the story of "what we want to think they were."
I highly recommend the entire five-book series. My only complaint is that quite often, examples to clarify points are referenced as vague things like, "What SoandSo did in the war," as if the readers all know all of human history and just know what that means. These things aren't always even searchable, and a few more explanatory sentences would clarify things immensely.
Otherwise, five stars. Even though most of the last two books were about France--a fascinating country, but only one country. I suppose that was the new editor's area of specialty. There was at least an interesting effort made in this last book to find some additional contributors at the end to discuss Sweden, Germany, and USA for comparison's sake.
The essay on the dominant (White) culture in the USA acknowledged the suffering of minorities (Black Americans in particular) and said things were different for them, but didn't describe the difference in private life. A modern edition would probably have a separate chapter or two about how things were different in subcultures such as the gay community, the Black community, Indigenous, etc. I'm sure there were similar elisions for everything but France (which took up ~400 pages of the 593 page text and seemed quite comprehensive).
I highly recommend the entire five-book series. My only complaint is that quite often, examples to clarify points are referenced as vague things like, "What SoandSo did in the war," as if the readers all know all of human history and just know what that means. These things aren't always even searchable, and a few more explanatory sentences would clarify things immensely.
Otherwise, five stars. Even though most of the last two books were about France--a fascinating country, but only one country. I suppose that was the new editor's area of specialty. There was at least an interesting effort made in this last book to find some additional contributors at the end to discuss Sweden, Germany, and USA for comparison's sake.
The essay on the dominant (White) culture in the USA acknowledged the suffering of minorities (Black Americans in particular) and said things were different for them, but didn't describe the difference in private life. A modern edition would probably have a separate chapter or two about how things were different in subcultures such as the gay community, the Black community, Indigenous, etc. I'm sure there were similar elisions for everything but France (which took up ~400 pages of the 593 page text and seemed quite comprehensive).
December 15, 2024
Este y el cuarto son los mejorcitos. Me cargó que en el epílogo se pusieran a hablar de cosas que no se trataron nunca en el texto completo. Hay que tener en consideración (para quién quiera leerlo) que va a ver el siglo XX de los franceses y no de forma universal.
April 8, 2021
Her zaman devingen olan “özel”i incelemeyi yeğleyen Georges Duby ve Philippe Ariès gibi iki ünlü tarihçinin yönetiminde hazırlanan Özel Hayatın Tarihi, Roma İmparatorluğu’ndan günümüze, medeniyetler, kültürler, çağlar boyunca yaşanan derin değişimler üzerinde göz gezdiren beş ciltlik kolektif bir yapıttır.
Beşinci ve son kitap Birinci Dünya Savaşı’ndan günümüze kadar olan dönemi kapsıyor: Kentleşme, iş yaşamının geçirdiği dönüşümler, İkinci Dünya Savaşı’nın getirdiği büyük yıkım, cinsel devrim, göçmenlik, Amerika ve İsveç örnekleri...
Özel Hayatın Tarihi’nin bu son cildi modern çağa özgü sorunlarla tıka basa dolu olan özel hayatımızın üzerindeki mahrem örtüyü kaldırırken, beş ciltlik bir kazı çalışmasında da son perdeyi indiriyor.
April 17, 2020
Contrairement au livre précédent, ce livre, surtout dans sa postface, a mal vieilli. Les projections ont au moins le mérite de montrer l'esprit d'un temps donné, la fin du 20e siècle. Certains chapitres sont profondément emprunts de male gaze et d'anti-féminisme primaire.
March 27, 2023
Traicionada por el espíritu hobsbawmiano pero el volumen más flojo de toda la colección
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews